Kristina Kraskov

- Tell us a little bit about yourself and your photography.

- Cool. So I'm Kristina Kraskov, and I'm based in Melbourne. And I take photos all the time, everywhere I go, but I'm really particularly interested in unusual people and places, and I make documentaries as well. So it's the same kind of thing. I'm just always looking for stories, whether they play out in a seagull image or in a film. I'm really drawn dramatic, classical painting style lighting. If I can find that in everyday life, that really excites me as well.

- Cool. Are you a professional photographer, are you working as a professional documentary filmmaker at the moment or that's your...

- I've made a few documentary projects and have done a bit of photography work in the past. It's very competitive industry as you're aware of, but yeah, definitely, definitely what I'm working on most at the moment.

- And art studies, you've studied...

- Yeah, I studied film and photography and I did a master's in documentary that I finished a years or two as well.

- Awesome. So tell us a little bit about your finalist work in living memory, I'm just a suburban fashionista.

- Yeah. So a friend that I op shop with encouraged me to join a Facebook group where people post their fines and I went in and there was just this awesome older lady posing in these cool outfits in front of her garage with her dog. But she looked like a supermodel who was 60. And I thought this lady is amazing. And I just knew that I would end up working with her somehow. And I actually wanted to make a little TikTok documentary. So that's why I reached out to her. And she was really cool. And was just amazing. Like it was better than I could have imagined. And I had my camera and I thought, I'm going to take a portrait of you because I just have this feeling that I have to do this. And she had these beautiful highlight windows and the light coming in was just magnificent. So that's how it started. And yeah, I was just looking through, and this particular moment struck me the most. She doesn't stop talking, Michelle, she's such a cool character, but all of the photos had her mouth open. So one moment of peace and quiet and like almost reflection and an innocence of just actually letting us see into her world. She has quite the social media following, and lots of people as think she has a giant wardrobe and her house is so clean, and she really liked my photo because it showed what it was really like and she wanted people to see that side of her, yeah.

- Yeah. That's awesome. And you won the Art Handlers Award this year.

- I think I felt cool.

- And what did you think of the video? I thought that was kind of cool as you're documentary maker, but you know, we do it every year, that we make a little video, but it was pretty cute.

- I really love the video they did. I've always been attracted to collections and clutter, and my parents growing up were always telling me all about that. So it was just such a eclectic moment to be recognised in this huge way for being attracted to clutter, and then the video reflected that, I just thought that was awesome.

- And what did your subject, Michelle, think about being being selected and being hung on a gallery wall or is it...

- She always says, I'm not telling people to vote for it or see it because I'm in it, but it's because it's a good photo. She always likes just think that she's not a big deal and she's no one significant and it's my work, but I have to keep reminding her that she is important to a lot of people. And it's I think our perfect teamwork that makes the work so special.

- And what I liked with your work, you went quite small and intimate and simple with your framing as well. So it is like a little window into a world when you go up and see it in the gallery, it sort of invites you to go closer and peer into it.

- Yeah. That was a very deliberate decision. I love huge prints, but it's such a detailed image. There's so much going on. She's almost lost in it. So I wanted people to take the time to actually see what was in the frame and yeah, getting close, go into her world.

- And she's tiny as well.

- She's so small.

- So what do you think being selected in the prize, sort of will remain for you as a photographer? I guess personally, what does that mean? And also professionally, what do you hope it brings?

- Yeah, well personally, it's a really tricky competitive industry, particularly with filmmaking as well. I chose two really hard things to do, and just getting so many rejections can really wear you down. I was lucky enough to visit the portrait gallery back in January this year. I wanted to, before I entered the gallery to check out the quality of work and I was so impressed. And I thought, Oh man, I probably not going to get into this. And I nearly didn't enter my portrait. But then I did. The deadline was extended and just getting in was a huge... it felt like a huge achievement because it is such a beautiful gallery. Professionally, I think, documentary, portraiture, filmmaking, they really do go hand in hand. So I hope it can help take my work to the next level, get a bit more recognition, more projects off the ground.

- You know, they're best in story-telling, aren't they? And what was on.. was it Australian love stories when you were here, the glowing hearts with the...

- It was the one before the music... I forgot what it was called.

- Pop rock.

- Yes. That was great.

- So you got it Sweaty pop rock exhibition. It was pretty amazing. So how has lock downs and changes in the world affected your practise in the way you approach photography and filmmaking?

- Well, so I went to see Michelle and take this between lockdowns. But lots of people fake, edit her into magazine covers and she just really has that aesthetic about her. And I wanted to do a more editorial style shoot. I wanted to bring lights and really spend a whole day shooting with her. And we just weren't able to, and that was the image that I was going to submit. So in a way, it forced me to look back and just accept this messy work in a way for what it was. And you know, that it is a really strong image. It's definitely been hard, but it's great to just notice this simple things. So I just make myself take my camera when I go for walks with my dog, always in the afternoon, of course, golden hour. And just keep noticing and keep looking and keep training your eye to see beauty, even if it's a bit sad.

- Yeah. Awesome. What's your selected equipment? What photographic equipment do you prefer? A news cameras and all of that sort of stuff.

- I tend to go as minimally as I can because I don't really want people to notice me too much or make a big deal out of me shooting. So I tend to always be pushing ISO more than I'd like, but yeah, I tend to just go minimally. I've got my Canon 5D, which is so beaten up. It's been all around the world and fallen off motorbikes and it's still going strong. So, yeah. And I tend to just go with a zoom lens so I can be ready for anything, but always fighting the light.

- Thank you flower. So any tips for aspiring photographers out there.

- I wish that they started entering things much earlier. I've always been taking photos, but I've only started entering things really this year and I've done surprisingly well. So I would say, just keep looking, keep taking photos, and keep trying to enter things if you can.

- And what about artists or photographers, any type of artists really that you look up to or that inspire you in your work?

- Oh, good question. I really love Errol Morris. He's a documentary maker and everything is just beautiful. You know, a simple interview shot, all the colour palette is considered in a way that's relevant to the storytelling. So I'm a really big fan of that. Unfortunately, I don't get the budgets for this content, but that's the dream, just to have beautiful--- People kind of have this idea that documentaries are just educational, so they should be cheaper, and they don't need to be so beautiful. But in documentary portraiture and filmmaking, I think there's a lot you can do to push that. So artists that do that, that really push, and just unusual people--- So anything about an interesting quirky character immediately gets my attention, yeah.

- Cool. And can you remember the first photograph you ever took, a conscious memory of taking a photograph and that connection of taking a photograph?

- I was in primary school and my friend kind of flip phone with a three megapixel phone camera. And I was just on it all night in, you know, really love those photos of stuff. And that made me actually--- I got a money box and I saved up all my gold coins to buy a $250 point and shoot. My mom takes me to the good guys when I'm like 10, and I'm laying out all my bags of those coins. And I just took it everywhere. And yeah, my family was super annoyed at me 'cause I would just always have it and I'd spun it around and attached it to things.

- That's so awesome.

- It's been a long time and I was kind of surprised that time I thought that I should do anything else when it was really always present.

- Yeah. That's interesting. A lot of people with their first photograph and then it just leads on to more, like it's meant to be. Do you remember what you were taking photos of on the flip plane? Was it just your friends?

- This is a really weird memory. But there was like this orange lamp light on this clown print of bedsheets. I was trying to take a photo of the light on the clown. I don't know why.

- Well, I say it's still there that light and that connection to light and photographers eyes. So yeah, what about a dream subject? If there was anyone you could get to make a documentary about or photograph, their portrait, who would they be? What would their story be? Who would it be?

- That is such a good question. And I think about this all the time, but of course, now that you've asked me, let me just think about that for a second.

- Yeah, think away, take your time.

- I always felt really sorry for Julia Gilad. And I really liked those photos that came out when she was in cabinet, but I just thought a portrait of her just being a person relaxing at home, could be really interesting. There's a documentary that's coming out recently about all of her time, which is awesome. I'm glad that we're talking about that. But I tend to go for more unusual people. So I'd actually made a documentary about a local celebrity here in Frankston. Every town has their weird, unusual local person, at the back person dressed as a dolphin or whatever. So yeah, in terms of celebrities, I'm interested in the really, really minuscule micro celebrities, but those kinds of things, for sure. I'm gonna keep thinking of that 'cause there's someone I was thinking about recently. I just can't remember who they are that I thought, Oh, it'd be so good to do a photo of them. It's gone. Sorry.

- Cool, that's all right, I can't come back. So what about any shout outs or thank yous to anyone. Have you got any?

- I've got a friend, Katie Bunac, who's on Instagram as well. And she's just my co-conspirator, she's a painter and she's an amazing portrait oil painter. And she's just the person who I send my rejections and my acceptances to, and we consult each other on a lot of that work. So she's my main one. And then just my family and friends as well for supporting me.

- Well, you have to get her to enter the Darling Portrait Prize.

- I've already emailed her.

- It'll be cool if you guys you're in next year... it's like a little joint showing.

- Yeah. We often enter similar things and having been in together, but...

- I might all align.

- Hopefully.

- Well, it's nearly the end anyway, but I was wondering if you had any parting words of wisdom, can be like life or art or anything you wanted to.

- I suppose in the subjects I've always been interested, they've never really been, I guess, the most on trend topic of the time ever. But that doesn't mean that they're not relevant. So I would guess just really consider your ideas and how much they mean to you. But if it's ideas that are always staying with you definitely still pursue them. Taking photos of weird people and their things, it's not always going to work, but this has really worked out for me. And it just fits in with everything I've been doing so far. So I'm really glad that I actually did take the opportunity.